Thursday, 23 September 2010

John Lambert elected chairman of Mucosis

Dutch biotechnology company Mucosis BV announced today that John Lambert was elected as member and chair of its Supervisory Board. Having held various key positions at pharmaceutical and biotech companies in both the United States and Europe, Mr Lambert brings exceptional vaccine industry experience to Mucosis.

From 1998 to 2000 Mr Lambert was President at Aventis Pasteur MSD, a vaccine joint venture established between Aventis (now sanofi-aventis Group) and Merck & Co Inc Subsequently, from 2001 to 2005, he served as President of Chiron Vaccines (now Novartis Vaccines). Mr. Lambert was a non-executive Director at Acambis Plc (UK), chairman of the Conseil d’Administration of Farmaprojects S. (Spain), non-executive chairman of Cambridge Biostability Ltd. (UK) and advisor for Crucell NV (Netherlands) on acquisitions and strategy. He is currently Board Director of Novavax Inc.(USA).

“I look forward to joining the Supervisory Board of this exciting company,” commented Mr. Lambert. “Mucosis is on track to successfully develop Mimopath-based vaccines as an innovative approach to meeting worldwide health needs. I believe that this technology holds great potential.”

Govert Schouten, Chief Executive Officer of Mucosis, added: “We are very happy to welcome an industry professional of such caliber and experience. Mr. Lambert’s expertise will be important for our company’s ability to build value.”

Mucosis BV is a Dutch biotechnology company that has developed a proprietary vaccine platform technology, Mimopath , on which it develops mucosal vaccines with improved efficacy. Mucosis’s lead products are FluGEM, a vaccine to prevent influenza, and PneuGEM, a vaccine preventing diseases caused by pneumococcal bacteria. Mimopath -based vaccines can be administered needle-free in the nose and mouth, evoking a more natural immune response with a broader base of protection.

Mucosis’s Mimopath technology is based on Lactococcus lactis, a safe bacterium commonly used in the food industry. Mucosis has developed a robust technique to formulate the L. lactis bacteria into non-living bacterium-like particles (BLPs) that can be loaded with antigens from viral, bacterial, parasitic or tumor origin. The antigen-covered BLPs form a vaccine that can be delivered into the nose or mouth, without the need for a needle. These vaccines raise protective immunity by activation of both the innate and the adaptive immune system.

Mucosis BV